Gush Katif: Facts In Brief

First Publish: 4/30/2004, 2:27 PM / Last Update: 4/30/2004, 3:28 PM

* 21 communities, most of them founded some 20 years ago
* close to 8,000 residents
* 26 synagogues
* over 20 yeshivot, schools and other educational institutions (not including nurseries and kindergartens)
* 900 acres of greenhouses growing bugless lettuce, cherry tomatoes (90% of Israel's exports), organic vegetables, spices, flowers, plants and more
* $60 million a year in exports - an average of $7,500 for every man, woman and child
* manufactures 70% of all of Israel's organic produce
* has faced over 4,000 mortar shells and Kassam rocket attacks, as well as 10,000 shooting incidents, at the hands of Palestinian terrorists over the past 3.5 years
* a 10% growth in population since the Oslo War began in September 2000